A tradition of research continues in Danbury

Robert Miller

Published 12:03 am, Sunday, May 18, 2014

Krill are tiny ocean-going crustaceans that provide foodstuff for hungry whales. Could krill oil also improve the heart health of people with Type 2 diabetes?

Earlier research has studied a link between sleep apnea and the risk of stroke. What happens to those risk factors if you add atrial fibrillation -- a rapid, uneven heartbeat -- to the mix?

These are two of the many lines of inquiry addressed last week by the staff of the Western Connecticut Health Network -- the umbrella group of Danbury, New Milford and Norwalk hospitals -- at the 29th annual Joseph Belsky M.D. Research Day.

The gathering in honor of Belsky, Danbury Hospital's first full-time director of medical education, who is still practicing endocrinology at 87, gives the clinical staff a chance to present papers and programs on original medical research projects.

This year, staff from both New Milford and Norwalk participated for the first time.

Joann Petrini, director of clinical research at Western Connecticut Health Network, said the papers and abstracts presented will be heard again. "This not the end," she said. "The doctors here will go on to present these papers at regional and national conferences."

Belsky said the research day started in 1985 under Dr. Nilo Herrera's leadership.

Herrera was perhaps the most influential of a group of physicians who, beginning in the 1960s, transformed Danbury Hospital from a behind-the-times community hospital into a teaching institution with residency programs and physicians eager to advance their learning.

The first years were not always impressive. The few posters mainly added visual impact to the proceedings. But gradually the programs expanded. For several years, Belsky said, pharmaceutical firms provided money to support the day -- a practice now considered a conflict of interest.

Among the oral presentations this year was one by Jessika Lobraico, a geneticist and researcher at the hospital, on the potential uses of krill oil.

Krill oil is like omega-3 fish oil, only better, she said, because krill are at the bottom of the ocean food chain and have purer oil. Fish oil is a supplement that medical research has shown to be beneficial to the heart.

Because diabetes often causes heart disease, the study looked at whether taking krill oil supplements might help such patients. Lobraico said the results are promising, because krill oil appeared to increase HDL cholesterol -- the "good'' cholesterol.

"What it's asking doctors to do is assess greater stroke risks with patients who have both conditions (apnea and atrial fibrillation)," Petrini said.

While discussing the work Yaranov was doing last week, Belsky, who has long been involved in diabetes education in the city, asked whether that research could be expanded to study sleep apnea, stroke and atrial fibrillation in diabetics.

Despite their 60-year age gap, Belsky and Yaranov immediately fell into a conversation on the topic.

"They're planning a paper for next year's Research Day," Petrini said.